India’s Politkovskaya Moment

Narendra Modi needs to do more to quell fears that his country is sliding toward illiberalism.

Has India just witnessed its Anna Politkovskaya moment, when a journalist’s shocking murder marks an authoritarian turn for her country?

It’s too early to say whether last week’s assassination of crusading journalist Gauri Lankesh outside her Bangalore home suggests for India an inflection point similar to what the 2006 Politkovskaya murder marked for Russia. But it is among the most important questions facing Prime Minister Narendra...